Abstract
The bio-based circular economy raises demand for competitive processes to produce bio-based versatile chemicals. The 5-hydroxymethylfurfural is within this demand since it is a relevant building block not economically viable yet. A promising production process is based on a biphasic reactor where the HMF is rapidly extracted to the organic phase that is further evaporated until desirable product purity. The evaporation operating cost is the second leading contributor to the HMF final price, so the present study intended to investigate the solvent’s impact on energy demand and operating cost. The results showed that the solvent’s physical properties impact the cost, almost doubling the utility cost among alternatives. However, a careful observation also showed that the minimum production cost is way more affected by the reaction selectivity. Thus, it is worth it to increase the solvent flow (also increasing the energy demand and utility cost) as a strategy to increase the extraction capacity and, consequently, the reaction selectivity.
